A hacker was sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing two unreleased songs from Ed Sheeran and selling them on the dark web.
Adrian Kwiatkowski exchanged Sheeran’s music and 12 tracks by rapper Lil Uzi Vert for bitcoin.
The Crown Prosecution Service claimed the 23-year-old from Ipswich obtained them after breaking into the artists’ computer accounts.
Kwiatkowski confessed to 19 offenses, including copyright infringement and illicit property possession.
According to City of London Police, he earned £131,000 from his songs.
When the defendant’s Apple Mac laptop was checked, 565 audio files, including songs by Sheeran and Vert, were discovered, according to Ipswich Crown Court.
Spirdark alias
US officials first initiated a probe in 2019.
It arose after the management of many singers claimed to the New York District Attorney that someone going by the online handle Spirdark had stolen multiple accounts and was selling the information.
The inquiry linked Kwiatkowski to the email address used to set up Spirdark’s bitcoin account. His UK address was also connected to an IP address that was used to hack one of the devices.
Kwiatkowski was arrested in September 2019 after the matter was reported to the City of London Police.
Police seized seven gadgets, including a hard disk with 1,263 unpublished songs by 89 musicians.
A document kept on the hard disk summarized the approach he took to get them, as well as a Bitcoin hoard that was confiscated.
Joanne Jakymec, chief crown prosecutor, stated that Kwiatkowski had “total contempt” for the musicians’ originality, hard work, and lost revenue.
“He selfishly stole their music to make money for himself by selling it on the dark web,” she said.
“We will be pursuing ill-gotten gains from these proceeds of crime.”
Kwiatkowski pled guilty in August to three counts of unauthorized access to computer data, 14 counts of selling copyrighted material, one count of converting criminal property, and two counts of possession of criminal property at Ipswich Magistrates Court.
He also acknowledged getting bitcoin cryptocurrency in exchange for the tunes.
Kwiatkowski was very proficient, according to Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt, but he utilized his abilities illegally.
“Not only did he cause several artists and their production companies significant financial harm, he deprived them of the ability to release their own work,” he added.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr said the case showed “cybercrime knows no borders”.
“This individual executed a complex scheme to steal unreleased music in order to line his own pockets,” he said.
